


Where The Voyage Takes Them

by jetblackprelude



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Drabble Collection, Ficlet Collection, M/M, Post Game AU, fairytale AU, ghost au, hero/villain au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-09-12 10:16:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16871092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jetblackprelude/pseuds/jetblackprelude
Summary: collection of ficlets that i've posted on tumblr and finally putting on here





	1. "the empire i'll inevitably have"

**Author's Note:**

> been putting off collecting all of these, but since tumblr is in chaos i figured now's a good time as any. i don't think i'll lose my account but that site is weird soooo ???  
> anyways, yeah i've been writing these sometimes and i guess i'm open to suggestions, though not a 100% promise i'll write them. or if there's some au i wrote that you want more of, let me know? ^^;
> 
> anyways, thanks for reading!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> based off a tumblr dialouge prompt i found
> 
>  
> 
> it's credited on my tumblr @ shikkokunoprelude, if u wanna find it

“What is that?” asked Kaito as he leaned over Kokichi’s shoulder, trying to read what the other boy was writing down.

“I’m drafting a constitution and national anthem for the empire I’ll inevitably have in my dominion,” said Kokichi as he set his pen down and looked over his work. “How does this sound for a preamble? ‘By virtue of Our Supreme Leader, who ascended the Throne because he is just that amazing, We hereby proclaim to exhibit these principles, by which We are guided in Our mischief and trickery’ Does it need more work?”

“I don’t think you’re the one who’s supposed to write that.”

“Well, my executives are gonna sign off on it, so it should be fine!”

Kaito shrugged and pulled the notebook away from Kokichi, earning a fair bit of complaining which he ignored. He flipped through the pages of detailed notes for this ‘empire’ that was being built. There were huge blocks of text crossed out and words written on the margins. There were also many little doodles, one page in particular caught Kaito’s eye.

“Are you planning this empire on the damn moon?” He pointed to the doodle of a rocket ship with the DICE name on the side. On the same page was a drawing of the moon, a flag with a clown face was placed on it.

“Of course! You’re the one who said space was the final frontier!” Kokichi tried to snatch the notebook back, but Kaito held it up over his head in response.

“Good luck getting to the moon.”

“I don’t need luck,” said Kokichi. He grabbed Kaito’s arm and batted his eyelashes. “I’ve already got you, my dear spaceman.”

“I’m not helping you take over the galaxy.”

“Oh? Should have thought of that sooner before you started dating a villain like me. Nishi~”


	2. fairytale au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> based off a tumblr dialogue prompt
> 
> the original prompt is linked on my tumblr @ shikkokunoprelude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one day i wanna write a fantasy au for v3, sorta like the dangan fairytale au from years back. for right now there's this though

“You know, you humans really get surprised over the simplest of things.”

“S-Simple?” said Kaito. He pointed an accusatory finger at the individual on top of his desk. “You have fucking _wings_.”

“Uh-huh.”

“On your body.”

“No, in a closet,” deadpanned the tiny, tiny person. “Nishishi! Of course they’re on my body. It’s kinda part of the whole faerie thing.”

“Dammit, this better be some messed up dream,” mumbled Kaito.

“Life’s not that easy!” shouted the faerie, and he flew straight towards Kaito’s face in a sparkly trail of white and purple. He laughed at how Kaito flinched away. “Hah! Scared?”

“I ain’t scared of something that’s barely bigger than my pinky!”

It was only a few hours ago that Kaito had been out catching fireflies with his new friend, Shuichi. Kaito had been proud that he made the gloomy-looking boy enjoy himself for a bit. Then, a strange swarm of fireflies had surrounded Shuichi’s face; they almost flew into his ears which caused him to freak out. Kaito had driven off the fireflies and caught a few of them in a jar to take home. He never could have foreseen that a faerie boy was inside that jar, but Kaito was woken up by the sound of glass breaking and high-pitch crying. He was very lucky that his grandparents had gone to visit friends for a few days, because he’d hate to wake them up in the middle of the night with all this racket.

“You _should_ be scared,” said the faerie while hovering near Kaito’s face. His wings were a dark purple shade. “Faeries are pretty vindictive, ya know? And you did sorta kidnap me. I’ve got enough magic in me to do something reeeeally nasty~”

“H-Hey! Sorry but it was your own damn fault! I had to help my friend!” He wouldn’t say that he was _scared_ per se, there were other supernatural beings that were far more terrifying than a cute faerie (ghosts were just fucking awful). However, Kaito was familiar with the tales of faeries and he knew they could be nasty, little pranksters. Still, he didn’t want to sit back and take the taunting.

“Oh, right that other human who was there… Hah! Did you see when he almost swallowed a firefly? That was hilarious!”

“Tch, can you leave already? I’ll open a window and–”

“No, no, no!” insisted the faerie as he pulled on Kaito’s goatee.

“Oi! Cut it out!” He tried to catch the faerie by the wings, but in a split second he dodged and flew a safe distance away. “The hell’s your problem? Don’t you want to go home?”

“I don’t know where home is, smartass! My sense of direction got messed up while trapped in the stupid jar,” countered the faerie.

“Shit…” he cursed under his breath as he tried to find a solution. “Ok, fine, you can stay here for the night and tomorrow I’ll take you to that field.”

“Aww, thanks! Now I don’t have to use my magic to force you to do my bidding!”

“Yeah, yeah, just find a place to sleep,” he said while stifling a yawn. He’d clean up the glass shards in the morning. Right now, he just wanted to go back to sleep. He went back to his futon and crawled under the heavy fleece blanket. Shutting his eyes, he didn’t notice the faerie flying towards him and glowing a brighter purple. All of a sudden, Kaito felt a heavy weight crash onto his chest.

“Ack! What the–?!”

“Nishishi~ I found a place to sleep,” giggled the faerie, looking down at Kaito with mischievous purple eyes, the same shade as his wings. He had grown to a more human-size, although he was still smaller than Kaito.

“Get off!” He grabbed the faerie by the waist and shoved him to the side

“Ouch! Y-You’re too rough!” He started to sob.

“Stop that. There’s a spare futon in the closet if you want it.” Kaito huffed and turned his back on the crying faerie. He really hoped to wake up in the morning and find that this was all part of a crazy dream.


	3. ghost au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *stares at partial notes for ghost au* idk if i'll ever start writing a story, or if i'll just write more short bits like this

Kokichi was huddled on the floor, sitting on top of the galaxy printed rug. He had called it tacky the first time he came here, but he lied about lots of little things. Kokichi traced a finger across the many stars, as if searching for constellations, he wished he could actually feel the fabric underneath him. Perhaps a small sensation like that could ground his thoughts and help him calm down, but although ghosts could interact with objects, they didn’t have a sense of touch.

Lying on the bed nearby was Kaito, he seemed to finally be sleeping. He likely still had a fever, but at least the horrible coughing had calmed down. If being scared to death was possible, then Kaito had come real close to it tonight.

They had finally met the ghosts girls known as the “Despair Sisters,” the infamous duo who caused Kokichi’s death along with dozens of other students. Everything that could have gone wrong tonight seemingly did, and they were lucky that Kaito didn’t turn into the next ghost to haunt this godforsaken school. Kokichi hated those girls, they clearly had no respect for the living or the dead, and treated it all like a big game.

Time continued to pass until a weak groan startled Kokichi out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Kaito tossing around on the bed. “O-Ouma?” asked Kaito in a raspy whisper. “Ouma, you still here?”

Kokichi hesitated briefly, but he stood up and floated towards the bed. Keeping his eyes focused on the blankets, he answered, “Yeah, I’m here Momota-chan.”

“Hmm…. glad you’re okay.”

“Heh, idiot. Worry about yourself and not someone that’s already dead.” His words came out a bit more bitter than he had intended.

“I’ll be fine, and I’ve told you don’t call me an idi–” his words were cut short by a cough racking his whole body.

The ghost boy headed to the bathroom and returned with a glass of water. He was finally forced to look at Kaito’s face, whose mouth was caked in dried blood. Kokichi had to wait for the coughing to subside a bit on its own, before he could offer the water. Even still, it was hard for Kaito to drink, and half of it just dribbled down his chin.

“T-Thanks. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine now.”


	4. halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at first i had wanted to do a sugar rush oneshot for halloween, but instead wrote this short bit

The sound of loud knocking came from the front door, causing Kaito to stop in the middle of his physics homework. He glanced at his phone to check the time, it was a bit past 7 pm, the usual training hour with Shuichi and Maki. Except they had canceled training this week because Kaito had a lot of work to finish, and his friends generally didn’t come to bother him in the middle of study mode. Maybe there was an emergency?

_KNOCK! KNOCK!_

“Momo-chan! Open up! It’s coooold!”

Nevermind. It was just Kokichi.

“Dammit, what does he want now?” he mumbled as he got up and headed towards the door.

“Trick or Treat!” yelled Kokichi, holding up a sack high in the air. He was dressed in an orange and purple clown costume. It had a mismatch of patterns– polka dots on the jester cap and stripes on a pant leg. There were also little bells on the tail ends of his waistcoat.

His boyfriend looked rather cute in that getup, thought Kaito. Still, he couldn’t help but ask teasingly, “Hey Kichi, aren’t you a little old to be trick or treating?”

Kokichi shrugged. “Most people think I’m lying when I say I’m 20 anyway, might as well use that to my advantage and get a ton of candy,” he said as he tried to force himself into Kaito’s apartment. “Let me in! It really is getting cold.”

“Fine, but you can’t stay for long. I’ve still got shit to do,” said Kaito as he let the other guy in and closed the door.

Kokichi went towards the coffee table where textbooks were laid out, and peered at the open physics book. “Ugh, you’ve been doing homework since like Sunday. It’s Wednesday and more importantly, it’s Halloween and here you are being bo~ring,” he said with disgust. He then spun around quickly, the bells on his outfit jingled, and raised his fists up in excitement. “Oh! Come trick or treating with me! You could use a break!”

“Who’s gonna give candy to me? I don’t look like I’m a 12 year old.”

“Some people don’t care, they’ll give candy to whoever shows up. If someone does question it, we can lie and say you’re my big brother! Nishishi~” snickered Kokichi.

“No thanks,” said Kaito with a pointed glare. His resolve faltered when Kokichi started to pout, and he rubbed the back of his head. “Even if I go with ya, I don’t have a costume and that’s pretty lame…”

“What, you think I’d come here unprepared?” He opened the sack and pulled out a fur coat and wolf ears. “You can’t escape, Momo-chan, so give up and let’s go get candy.” 

“Tch, fine I _guess_ I can go with you,” he answered with a smile, not really bothered by this interruption but feeling the need to at least pretend a bit.


	5. hero/villain au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this au i definitely wanna revisit a few more times o3o

Well, this wasn’t exactly how the plan was supposed to go. Kaito had woken up on the cold cement floor; a dull, throbbing pain on the side of his head. His breathing was heavy and he could taste blood in his mouth. The only source of light at the moment was a small led lamp that could be seen out of the corner of his eyes, but its soft purple glow didn’t do much to light up the place. It was a struggle to sit up while his arms and legs were tied up, but somehow he managed to do it.

Before he could think of what his next action should be, the ceiling lights turned on and briefly blinded him. Then, he heard a door open and pairs of steps entered the room. The door closed with a heavy bang.

“Rise and shine! Time for Mr. Hero’s interrogation!” shouted a chipper, childish voice.

Once his eyes adjusted to all the light, Kaito looked up and scowled at his captors. There were 3 of them, all wearing the same odd white uniform and similar clown masks. The smallest of the trio wore a black military style cap, and was flanked on both sides by the taller two individuals.

“Nishishi, looks like our buddy here got reeeeal beat up,” chuckled the tiny leader, it was that childish voice from moments ago. He tilted his head up towards the tallest of bunch, a man with a red afro. “I told you guys to go easy on idiots like him.”

Kaito tried to speak up, only to start coughing up blood.

“Tch, gross,” said the leader in disgust. Even so, they knelt down and held a water bottle near Kaito’s lips. “Here. Drink up.”

Kaito shook his head in defiance. He was met with water splashing all over his face, causing him to sputter and cough even more.

“You’re always so damn stubborn about the dumbest things,” said the leader, his peppy tone now replaced with irritation. He continued throwing water at his enemy.

“Ack! W-What the hell you want?” asked Kaito.

 “I could ask you the same thing.” He pulled off his checkered neckerchief and used it to dry Kaito’s face. “You and your precious sidekicks were the ones who decided to follow one of my DICE executives around. Did you expect to figure out where our headquarters is _that_ easily?”


	6. hero/villain au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaand here's the newest ficlet, same au as last chp but a different time (idk maybe before the last chp events)  
> shoutout to anon on tumblr for suggesting hero & villain names, i ended up only using the suggestion for kokichi. i did like kaito's suggestion of constellation, but went with something different as i was writing it ^^;
> 
> i have a lil DICE members headcanon that everyone has names w/ kanji for different animals. either first name or last name, i haven't fully planned it out. but this chp mentions usa-chan, tsuru-chan, and tora-chan for rabbit, crane, and tiger respectively

The building rumbled as an explosion went off somewhere down the hall. The two DICE subordinates in the room huddled closer together. They kept darting their heads up to the ceiling, worried of debris raining down on them any second. On the far side of the room, their leader was tampering with the control panel for the vault.

“C-Checkmate,” whimpered one of the DICE members, a teen girl with pigtails and clown half mask. “I don’t like this.”

“It’ll be alright, Usa-chan,” replied Checkmate in a calm tone that belied his worries. “We’ll get the goods and get out safe. I promise.”

The third person in the room reached out to hold Usa-chan’s hand. They were the tallest, maybe the oldest, and their hair bangs partly concealed their mask. “Boss. When we get out,” they said, “We’re going after that whore of an inventor who gave us those explosives.”

Their leader was inclined to agree, though he didn’t answer and instead stayed focused on opening the damn vault door. The bombs turned out to be  _ much _ stronger than what he had asked for, which was strange since in the past this particular inventor would follow his requests perfectly. Whether it was a screw-up or she had done this on purpose, it didn’t matter because the result was still this hellish situation. He didn’t want this building to come crumbling down! Another explosion was heard from above them, and finally bigger chunks of the ceiling started falling. Usa-chan squeaked in terror and wrapped her arms around her teammate. 

“Tsuru-chan, grab the hook shot from my bag,” said Checkmate. “Go to the rendezvous point.”

“You’re gonna stay until the last minute trying to open that, aren’t you?” they stated with a sigh. Regardless, they carefully walked towards the backpack with Usa-chan tugging at them to stop.

“Wait! We can’t leave the boss!” cried out the young girl.

Checkmate stopped his work on the panel. He took off his clown mask and smiled brightly at his subordinates. “Nishishi~ I’ll catch up with you guys soon! A great villain won’t be defeated by this.” Without giving the others a chance to respond, he put the mask back on and went back to hacking the control panel.

Tsuru-chan grabbed the hook shot and hauled the girl towards the open window. Across from them was a building under construction. They threw Usa-chan over their shoulder and carefully started climbing out. “I’ll tell Tora to bring the helicopter over,” they said before aiming the hook shot at a construction beam and zipping away. 

A small sigh escaped Checkmate’s lips. He tugged on his checkerboard neckerchief as if all this time it had been too tight on him. A piece of cement fell not too far from him, making him flinch and lose that momentary relief. His friends might be safe but he had to make sure to stay alive in order to see them all again. Finally, the control panel started to light up green and the vault door opened. He raced inside the vault, finding debris littering the floor. Observing the cabinets on the walls, he opened one labeled ‘Mirai Project’ and pulled out the case stored inside.

“All this trouble for a lousy briefcase,” he muttered before rushing back to the main room. However, his feet skidded to halt when he realized he wasn’t alone.

“Oi! What the hell you think you’re doing?!” He was hovering in the air, glaring down at Checkmate with piercing purple eyes. He was dressed like out of a super sentai show, only minus the usual helmet because no headwear could contain that spiky hairdo.

The villain was silently glad that his mask covered his full face, so that his brief surprise couldn’t be seen. “Nishishi! You’re awfully late, star man. I’ve already got what I came here for,” chided Checkmate with a wag of his finger. He didn’t show his worry about what may had happened to the trio that he had sent to keep the hero busy. 

“You didn’t send me an invite,” said the hero as he surveyed the damage around him. “Your pals got a call to regroup, apparently their dear boss was in danger.”

“And you came ahead to save me? Aww that’s sweet of you, space cadet.”

Just then, the building shook. Checkmate’s legs wobbled and the hero rushed over to his side. “Is anyone else stuck in here?!” asked the hero in an angry, slightly panicked tone.

“We made sure that everyone got out.” 

“Then it’s our turn!” With that said, he lifted up the villain and flew out of the building.

As they flew off, Checkmate saw firefighter trucks and an ambulance arrive at the scene. The top floors of the building were collapsing in; he felt his gut twist with a feeling that he’d rather not admit. He gripped the briefcase handle tightly. “Heh, you trusted my word real easy, didn’t you twinkle toes?” he joked to try to get his mind off of the mess of events.

“Tch, always with the dumb names, huh?” grumbled the hero. He shook his head. “Anyways, it’s never been DICE’s style to cause civilians any real harm. I’m sure you wouldn’t change all of a sudden.”

The masked villain laughed and reached a hand out to pat the hero’s cheek. “That’s sweet that you pay attention to me, but don’t forget I’m still a bad guy. Got it, Comet-chan?” The hero looked at him unimpressed, which only made Checkmate laugh more. “Nishishi, what’s wrong? I got your hero name right this time!”

“Drop the -chan part!” Comet’s face colored and he halted in the middle of the air. The hero’s buttons were far too easy to push. “Ugh, I should hurry up and throw you in jail so I don’t have to hear you.”

Checkmate laughed; a cell wouldn’t be able to hold him for long. With the way that Comet scowled, the hero seemed to be thinking the same thing. 


	7. post game au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy new year. almost everyone in my family got sick around the start of january, including me ^^; that's how i started the idea for this lil fic. it became a sorta post game fic bc i wanted to try writing that for once
> 
> **minor warning for some descriptions of throwing up** idk the proper tag for it... but it's not super descriptive, i think
> 
> thanks for reading~

It was the middle of the night and Kaito felt like total shit. He was sitting on his bed, with pillows propping up his back. Earlier he had been trying to fall asleep, while ignoring his coughing and stomach ache. Now his stomach churned and he had an awful taste in his mouth from when he had thrown up moments ago. Beside his bed was the trash can he had hurriedly grabbed to vomit in. There was some stomach virus spreading around the apartment complex, and Kaito was simply the next unlucky victim of it. Still, he hated getting sick--it brought back awful memories of hacking up blood during his time stuck in a killing game show.

Memories made people who they are. Like a puzzle, people are built from little pieces that all fit together to form one’s consciousness. Sometimes there are pieces that get bent up, broken, or lost, and the big picture becomes incomplete. Even if one tried to replace the missing pieces, it wouldn’t be the same as before. 

After his little stint with Dangan Ronpa over two years ago, Kaito felt like two puzzles, made out of the same shaped pieces but depicting different images, had been frankensteined together to create a whole new person. Was his name always Kaito Momota, or was that a creation from the writing staff? Were the grandparents he remembered even real people? Did he honestly join that ‘reality fiction’ show or had it been coercion? He’d likely never find out how much of his memories were implanted for the sake of entertainment. When the 53rd season ended the way it did, the staff behind it all disappeared and any information on the contestants past lives was lost. All he had left were the memories.

A series of knocks came from the front door, snapping Kaito out of his daze. The alarm on his bedside glowed 2:13 AM. He flinched. The walls were so thin here; no doubt Kaito had woken up half of the people on this floor. He knew only one specific person would come knocking though, even if it was just to be a nuisance. Kaito shuffled out of his bed, standing still for a bit when he became nauseous, and then headed to open the door just a crack.

He glared down at his late night visitor and said rasply, “Go away.” 

Kokichi smiled back at him. “Yikes. Momota-chan, you sound awful. Look awful too, but when don’t you?”

Even with the time that passed, he looked pretty much the same as Kaito remembered when they met in the show. (Sometimes he wondered if they ever met earlier.) His hair may had grown out a few inches, but he still had that short stature and sickly pale skin tone. His eyes twinkled with a sort of amused smugness, although it did little to hide how tired he was.

“I’m not in the mood to deal--” He paused, sensing the urge to throw up again but it never came. “To deal with you.”

“Aww come on, and here I was being nice enough to check up on you.” He pushed at the door and was met with little resistance, allowing himself to squeeze inside. He swung a grocery bag around in one hand. “I figured you wouldn’t be smart enough to buy medicine when folks first started to get sick around here. You can have some of mine.”

“Must have slipped my mind,” mumbled Kaito before a coughing fit started.  He felt bile rise up in his throat and rushed to the kitchen sink. He lurched forward and forced his body to dispel what was left of his dinner. The vomit came out red-pink in color, and he reminded himself that it was nothing more than the fruit juice he drank earlier.

His unwanted guest made a gagging noise and pulled up his striped neckerchief to cover his mouth and nose. Kokichi set down the bag he brought on the counter, then went to check the fridge. “You got any water?” he said. “It’s important to stay hydrated.”

Kaito shook his head weakly and then turned on the tap water. “Get me a cup will ya,” he said. He sighed irritably when he was handed a decorative mug with a rocket ship flying along a starry sky; a crescent moon and ringed planet with faces were on it as well. “I really ought to get rid of this thing.”

“Nishishi, don’t be so mean,” chided Kokichi. “I just got you that mug this Christmas, remember?”

He filled up the mug and rinsed his mouth out before answering, “Yeah, and I remember asking you why the hell did you buy shitty novelty merch of my own execution.”

It was the kind of mug where the picture changed when it was heated up. In this case, the rocket would start crashing down. The V3 logo also appeared.

“Fine then, be a dick and smash my present. See if I care.”

“Ugh, you totally care don’t you,” groaned Kaito. His gag reflex kicked in but he couldn’t throw up. “I’ll keep this one, but no more presents like it, got it? Maybe you think remembering this shit is funny in some dark ironic way, but I don’t.”

For a few moments, there was only the sound of the running tap water. “You’re right, it’s not funny at all,” he finally said, his tone now more solemn. “But it’s not like we’ll ever forget everything that happened. Might as well lie to ourselves and try to laugh it off.” 

Kaito didn’t answer, instead he decided to start cleaning the sink. There was truth in that no one would ever truly forget about Dangan Ronpa. Reruns of the final season continued to air on television.  It wasn’t that hard to find clips or full episodes of the older stuff online. Merchandise was still sold for it. People still talked about the series. Kaito kept wanting to forget about it all and move on, but it was hard when he still got knowing looks from strangers.

“Ouma, does it make you feel better?” He tilted his head to look at Kokichi. “Leaning into the whole persona that some tv staff probably invented.”

Kokichi stared blankly at the other man. Any smile or frown that might be on his face was hidden from view. “I keep telling myself that it helps,” he said.

“I don’t think I can do that.”

“Of course you can! Momota-chan lied all the time back then.” He patted the taller man’s back and headed towards the small living room. “Now, take some medicine, cheer up, and let’s play some video games. The Luminary of the Stars shouldn’t get so gloomy.”

Kaito nodded. If he was going to be stuck with these memories, then at least there was some minor comfort in knowing someone else was in the same shitty situation.


	8. ghost au 02

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's the same ghost au setting from an earlier chapter. just another scene, another time

Kaito stormed into his dorm room and slammed the door shut. He takes a brief moment while locking the door to breathe out a ragged breath, but it does nothing to calm his anger. “Hey! What the fuck’s your problem?!” He yelled out at the empty room. It’s dead silent, but he knows that he’s not alone. He can feel the familiar chill of the supernatural all around the place. “Ouma! Come out and let’s settle this like men!”

“What does that even mean? ‘Settle this like men;’ are you gonna try to punch me?” The childish voice echoes, and soon Kokichi’s ghostly figure materializes on top of the bed. He’s sitting cross-legged, an innocent smile painted on his face.

“Don’t play around!” snapped Kaito. He marched up to the ghost and crossed his arms over his chest. “Why are you so mean to Maki Roll?”

The ghost boy’s smile faltered, but a wider grin was hastily drawn in replacement. “Maki Roll?” he said in disbelief. “You gave the killer girl a  _ nickname? _ ”

“She’s my friend, of course I’d give her a nickname.”

“Of course she’s your friend now.” He raised his arms up in exasperation. “Of course that Momota-chan is enough of an idiot to try and befriend one of the deadliest ghosts in this school.”

“Why do you keep calling her that?! Sure, she’s strong and can go toe to toe with that Ikusaba chick but--”

“And how that doesn’t raise a major warning flag in your head is beyond my comprehension,” interrupted Kokichi. He didn’t once raise his voice like Kaito was doing, but an edge was starting to creep in that signified he was getting fed up with this conversation.

“But she  _ saved _ us!! How can you call her a killer?!”

Kokichi rose up from his spot on the bed and floated towards the taller boy. The two of them were almost touching noses, with Kaito refusing to back away from the small ghost. 

“It’s simple really,” said Kokichi. “The proof is that knife she can materialize out of nowhere, it’s just like Ikusaba.”

Kaito scowled. “Big deal. That’s just some ghost thing.”

“Nishishi~ Well, _ I _ definitely can’t do that, and does Momota-chan want to know why?”

“Cuz you’re not as badass as you say you are?”

“You’re funny, but there’s nothing badass about it,” he sounded like he was explaining things to a small child, “A ghost that can conjure up a weapon like that means that they killed someone while they were alive. It’s basically proof of their sin.”

“Liar,” said Kaito without giving it a second thought. 

Kokichi snarled. “You’re the worst. You always talk about how we’re a team, and how we should trust in each other. But that kind of talk only matters when it’s convenient for  _ you.” _

“Oh, so you’re suddenly some damn saint, is that it?! Like I don’t have to deal with your lying ass all the time?”

The air around them grew even colder. Kokichi’s eyes became unnervingly dark, nearly black, a reminder that he wasn’t entirely human anymore. Kaito felt a shiver run down his spine, but no way in hell was he going to let himself show fear.

In response to Kaito’s quiet determination, Kokichi gave a thin-lipped smile. “So I’m a liar, so what?“ He said nonchalantly. “Maybe I’m lying about the knife thing, but my thinking about dear  _ Maki Roll  _ isn’t wrong. She’s powerful and secretive-- that’s a horrible combination.”

“She was opening up to me before you showed up.”

“I would hardly call threatening to kill you as opening up. Nishishi,” he chuckled and finally moved away. “I’m done trying to talk sense into you. You’re head is as empty as the outer space you love so much.”

With that final jab, Kokichi disappeared, and the temperature in the room started to return to normal.


End file.
